02.25.25

EDITORS’ LIST

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Jill and Monica share their February picks, including designer cast-iron cookware, a new perfume from one of our favorite fashion brands — with a bottle by the hottest studio in design — and a vintage lamp that ought to be as famous as the Ingo Maurer Lampampe.

Jill’s List

JS_mug1. THE DINNERWARE MUSEUM
If there’s anything I love more than a niche kitchen item, it’s a niche museum. Since we last dispatched one of these lists, I’ve come across two in the Tri-State area alone: the Stickley museum in Morris County, New Jersey — aka the 30-acre estate of early-20th-century Arts and Crafts designer Gustav Stickley —  and the International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston, New York. I love the ’30s-era red set at the top of this post, courtesy of Don Schreckengost, otherwise known as America’s first industrial ceramicist (or at least so says Wikipedia). And FUN FACT about this weird tea set that looks, disturbingly, like the cups are suckling at the teat of the pot: It was the tea set Captain Picard used on Star Trek: The Next Generation.		 JS_stringa2. DESIGNER COOKWARE
Mike Ruiz-Serra’s cast-iron Dutch oven — an extension of his iron hardware line — is currently sold out, but here’s hoping it comes back. It’s indicative of a larger trend I’ve noticed of designers dipping a toe with delightfully imperfect results into cookware and stovetop items — often the most homogenous part of any kitchen. See also: casserole dishes by Workaday Handmade, espresso makers and teapots by Cultivation Objects, and more. (Actually, my brain is so fried I can’t remember the “more” at this time, so if you see something similar, please send my way!)		 _JS_schnapps3. A CHARLIE BROWN VASE
I missed this now-closed exhibition at Kate Werble Gallery in New York, in which every item on view had to fit on a shelf, but unsurprisingly my favorite piece was by Emily Mullin. It’s giving Charlie Brown in the best way. 
_JS_kerafakt4.THE SSENSE SALE
I don’t think I’ll ever understand how the Ssense sale works. But as I was low-key stalking the now-discontinued (why?!) black version of my Jonah Takagi for Hem vase, waiting to see if it would go on sale, I stumbled upon an exclusive edition one of our Sight Unseen Collection designers made for the Canadian retailer: Nicholas Bijan Pourfard’s off-white mirror/lamp, which is now 80% off and costs $760!? Now, this column is too short to get into the financials of what this means for independent designers, but I will say I appreciate Ssense constantly keeping me on my toes. You really never know what you’re going to find.		 _JS_RHCP5. JIL SANDER PERFUME
Speaking of finding a designer you know in a random place, Magasin this week alerted me to the fact that Jil Sander’s first ever perfume comes in a bottle designed by Jeroen van de Gruiter, who, once upon a time, showed his glass bowls at Sight Unseen Offsite. I guess in the time since we caught up with him, Van de Gruiter has been working in the studio of Formafantasma, who is credited with the design, and we’ll be honest: We love this little bell-shaped bottle! Very nouveau apothecary.		 JS_kiddush6. A CHIC COMPACT
As much as I go on about my love for Completedworks, it’s not the most affordable brand in the world, which is why I was glad to see this incredibly chic compact made in collaboration with the makeup brand Merit, for just $38. It’s part of a larger, pitch-perfect jewelry collab with Merit, inspired by their fragrance Retrospect.

Monica’s List

1. MARIO BELLINI AREA LAMP
Can’t decide whether I love the pillar version of this 1974 lamp above — recently sold by Béton Brut in London, which is how it ended up here — or the curved cantilever version. In both, it’s so lovely how the wavy-edged cap that holds the paper shade in place forces it into this delicately curved ruffle.

2ANNA KEIS STEEL CUBES CHAIR
This chair is a bit of an enigma; I saw it posted on the Chair of Virtue Instagram account back in December, but the Instagram of the designer, RISD senior Anna Keis, was private, pointing only to a public page showcasing her illustration work. She sure did stir something in me with this chair, though, so hopefully it’s not the last we’ll see of her three-dimensional work.

 3. VINTAGE TILE-TOP TABLE
As happens so often with us, I made this discovery while searching for something else. It’s a vintage wood coffee table topped with a colorful ceramic-tile mosaic, offered by the Sydney design gallery ALM, and it will live on in my dreams for some time to come (alongside these tile tables by artist Fran Aniorte).
4. PHILIPPE STARCK ILLUSION TABLE
Corollary to the Area Lamp: a 1992 dining table by Philippe Starck that features a molded-glass tabletop (meant to look like a transparent tablecloth) “draped” over a thin steel frame. I’ve been looking for a new dining table, and at this moment at least, this would be my absolute dream. There’s a really nice blue version as well.

5. ET AL. BOOKS IN SF
In January, Studio Ahead and Mariah Nielson teamed up for an art and design exhibition that opened during the Fog fair in San Francisco, and it was held in the gallery behind Et Al. books, in the Mission. I glanced around before going into the exhibition, and was very impressed with the vintage art and design books — I immediately found an old book on Japanese Haniwa ceramics for $15 that I had been coveting after an exhibition I saw in Tokyo. Worth a stop in SF!

 6. DRAM HOLY BASIL & LEMON
I realize this is not a design-related Editors’ List pick, but I felt the need to include it anyway as a public service, because this new flavored sparkling water by Dram is the absolute BEST I have ever tasted in my life. To say I am addicted would be an understatement. It’s completely unsweetened, but somehow tastes sweet? Yet is incredibly refreshing at the same time. It’s a relatively new flavor for the brand and hard to find, but I’ve been ordering by the case. Beyond.